The Soul Sisters presenting
The "Asheville" Interpretation of The Scarlet Letter by Nathanial Hawthorne
Brought to you by Mason Burril, Looie Doucette, and Lily Clarke
Introduction: Nathaniel Hawthorne wants to show that adultery in the Puritan community is regarded with such distain that Hester's story lasts for decades, and the letter becomes a symbol and relic of the consequences she faces. Another possible motive of Hawthorne’s is to provide an example of the idea that sins like adultery are not unique to certain time periods or communities, but are universal shortcomings in human beings regardless of time.
Quotes:
“This long connection of a family with one spot, as its place of birth and burial, creates a kindred between the human being and the locality, quite independent of any charm in the scenery or moral circumstances that surround him (Hawthorne 277).”
(personal experience)
As the author finds himself connected to Salem, the home to several generations of his family, readers similarly relate to the feeling of being tied to things and places due to heritage. While there are not always significant reasons other than family connections, the relationships between humans and the places and things tied to their ancestors are extremely intimate. Hawthorne acurately describes the "sentiment...assignable to the deep and aged roots which [his] family has stuck into the soil (Hawthorne 274)." The feelings created from the knowlege that a person's ancestors have walked, worked, talked, loved, cried, and lived in a particular area both personal and intimate.
“…every individual who has occupied the position-is, that, while he leans on the mighty arm of the Republic, his own proper strength departs from him. He loses, in an extent proportioned to the weakness of force of his original nature, the capability of self-support (Hawthorne 303).” surveyor of the customs
(relates to chapers 1-10)
The description of a man losing his strenth and "capability of self-support (Hawthorne 303)" described in the introduction perfectly relates to the relationship between Chillingworth and Dimmesdale. While Dimmesdale finds himself "lean[ing] on the mighty arm (Hawthorne 303)" of Chillingworth, the former procedes to loose his sense of self-reliance and ability to function alone. The same can be said for Dimmesdale reliance on a secret that slowly knaws away at his soul and strength. " Mr. Dimmesdale, conscious that the poison of one morbid spot was infecting his heart's entire substance (Hawthorne 92)", was subject to the torture and self-deprecation caused by continuing to hide a monumental secret.
“ My good townspeople will not much regret me; for-though it has been as dear an object as any, in and to win myself a pleasant memory in this abode and burial place of so many of my forefathers-there has never been, for me, the genial atmosphere which a literary man requires in order to ripen the best harvest of his mind. I shall do better amongst other faces; and these familiar ones, it need hardly be said, will do just as well without me (Hawthorne 309).”
(hint at end)
The author is convinced that while he has lived, worked, and interacted in the town of Salem throughout his whole life, he is not an essential asset to the community, and will not be considered a great loss if he leaves. Almost as if he is invisible the author feels as if his role in the community is minute. Just as the author can easily be forgotten in his town, Hester Pryne, after causing a huge commotion and scandal, ends up living an invisible life where she does not play a large role in the community. Like the author, Hester has become "long familiar to the townspeople (Hawthorne 181)" but is not important to them. "As [is] usually the case wherever Hester [stands], a small vacant area - a sort of magic circle - [forms] istelf about her (Hawthorne 189)," showing the unimportance of her presence in society. After seven years of ignominy and humiliation, Hester, like that author, ends up as an non-influential member of society living among people who "will do just as well without (Hawthorne 309)" her.
Chapter 1:
How title relates to scarlet letter's symbolism; The title of chapter 1, The Prison Door, embodies many of the physiological aspects of the scarlet letter's symbolism. As a mark of ignominy, the scarlet letter symbolizes a separation between Hester Pryne and the Puritan community. The prison door is a tangible barrier between a prisoner and free people, just as the scarlet letter becomes a barrier in Hester's life.
Chapter 2:
REDNECK WOMAN
By: Gretchen Wilson
Well, I ain't never been the Barbie doll type
No, I can't swig that sweet Champagne, I'd rather drink beer all night
In a tavern or in a honky tonk or on a four-wheel drive tailgate
I've got posters on my wall of Skynyrd, Kid and Strait
Some people look down on me, but I don't give a rip
I'll stand barefooted in my own front yard with a baby on my hip
'cause I'm a redneck woman
I ain't no high class broad
I'm just a product of my raising
I say, 'hey ya'll' and 'yee-haw'
And I keep my Christmas lights on
On my front porch all year long
And I know all the words to every Charlie Daniels song
So here's to all my sisters out there keeping it country
Let me get a big 'hell yeah' from the redneck girls like me, hell yeah
Victoria's Secret, well their stuff's real nice
But I can buy the same damn thing on a Wal-Mart shelf half price
And still look sexy, just as sexy as those models on TV
I don't need no designer tag to make my man want me
Well, you might think I'm trashy, a little too hardcore
But in my neck of the woods I'm just the girl next door
I'm a redneck woman
I ain't no high class broad
I'm just a product of my raising
I say, 'hey y'all' and 'yee-haw'
And I keep my Christmas lights on
On my front porch all year long
And I know all the words to every Tanya Tucker song
So here's to all my sisters out there keeping it country
Let me get a big 'hell yeah' from the redneck girls like me, hell yeah
I'm a redneck woman
I ain't no high class broad
I'm just a product of my raising
I say, 'hey y'all' and 'yee-haw'
And I keep my Christmas lights on
On my front porch all year long
And I know all the words to every ol' Bocephus song
So here's to all my sisters out there keeping it country
Let me get a big 'hell yeah' from the redneck girls like me, hell yeah
Hell yeah, hell yeah
Hell yeah
I said hell yeah!
Hester directly relates to the lyric of this song. Clearly Hester is the outcast and she is looked down upon; much like Gretchen Wilson in this song. But also as Hester puts up with the harrasment and bad looks, Gretchen does as well. They are both strong women that stand up for what they believe. When the song says "you might think I'm trashy", the villagers thing that Hester is trashy. The line:"Some people look down on me, but I don't give a rip, I'll stand barefooted in my own front yard with a baby on my hip", this is the same thing that is happening to Hester; she is looked down upon, but she doesn't care, and she is proud to have a baby on her hip! This song is all about having pride in yourself, and Hester is very strong willed, and even though she is made fun of for it, she is proud of who she is.
Chapter 3: In The Recognition, Hester recognizes her husband, Chillingworth; Chillingworth recognizes Hester, and the townspeople want Hester to recognize the father of Hester’s illegitimate child.
Hester sees “a figure which irresistibly [takes] possession of her thoughts (Hawthorne 13)” while she
[is] standing on the podium in the middle of town. Similarly, the man, Chillingworth, “[has bent] his eyes on Hester Prynne (Hawthorne 14)”, as he tries to catch her eye. As soon as Chillingworth gets Hester’s attention and sees “that she [appears] to recognize him, he slowly and calmly [raises] his finger, [and makes] a gesture with it in the air, and [lays] it on his lips (Hawthorne 14)”. Both Hester and Chillingworth are able to recognize each other by appearance when Hester is made a spectacle of by the
town and Chillingworth subtly watches from afar.
Another type of verbal recognition is demanded when Mr. Wilson and Mr. Dimmesdale try to convince Hester to recognize her child’s father. Mr. Wilson uses a persuasive religious argument to entices Hester to reveal the “godly youth that he should deal with [Hester], here in the face of Heaven, and before these wise and upright rulers, and in hearing all of the people, as touching the vileness and blackness of [Hester’s] sin (Hawthorne 18)”. While the townspeople desperately wish for Hester to recognize her child’s father, and in desperation demand to “exhort her to confess the truth (Hawthorne 19), Hester does not yield in her secret.
Chapter 6:
Shrek and Pearl are similar because they are both outcasts in society and are seen as daemons by some; while others see them as beautiful. They both have strong personalities, they can go from being very happy to angry and throwing a temper tantrum. Pearl and Shrek both represent a
Chapter 7:
Hester has become an outsider to her village because of her sin. As a result, she is has become lonesome and in many way depressed. She realizes however, that she "must gather [her] own sunshine." In other words, she is the only one that can bring herself happiness because she is secluded from society. Hester also realizes that the only person that can bring someone happiness is themselves. Hester tells this to Pearl because she wants to teach her that no one can bring you happiness, you have to bring it upon yourself. Many people believe that clinical depression is not something that can be simply be cured by someone telling you to be happy. Like Hester, it is believed that each person must find it in on their own in order to escape depression.
Chapter: 8:
Hester is definently not an unfit mother. Even though she and Pearl are outcasts of society, Hester is able to bring Pearl more love and care than Pearl would find in their society's traditioal home. Hester is passionate and strong, and she teaches Pearl to be the same way. Hester is also able to overcome the fact that Pearl is being raised wihtout a father. She does this by caring for her and nurturing her. She is equal to a man in her intelligence and thoughtfulness and therefore is able to protect Pearl and know what is best for her. By the end of the novel, Hester becomes a mother figure to the other women of the community.
Chapters 9-10:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhgzIM-9lfA IRON MAN...Just as Chillingworth appeared to be helping Dimmesdale, Obadiah, Tony Starks manager, pretended to be helping Tony. However Obadiah had a secret intention to kill Tony Stark and take over the company. Similarly, Chillingworth had detrimental intentions towards Dimmesdale's health. On the other hand, Tony was building a secret Iron Man that was clouded from Obadiah; comparative to Dimmesdale's mysterious sin.
Chapter 11:Tiger Woods
Donald Miralle/Getty Images
Updated: April 12, 2010
Tiger Woods is the world's best golfer. But after a decade at the pinnacle of the sports world, a Nov. 27, 2009, car accident set off a wave of revelations about his personal life and reports of marital infidelities linking him to multiple women. It caused him to take a leave from the PGA tour.
After a stint in rehab, three months later Woods admitted to repeated infidelities in a carefully orchestrated news conference, apologizing to his friends, family and colleagues, and acknowledging that he is in therapy.
He returned to golf for the 2010 Masters tournament in April, ending the four-month hiatus that had shattered his image as the gold standard in sports. At an event that was part soap opera, part athletic event and part stage show, Woods did not play spectacularly, but he was welcomed by the crowd and finished tied for fourth, only five strokes behind the winner, Phil Mickelson.
Woods has transformed golf with a combination of power, touch and tenacious resolve. His astonishing success, often accompanied by his signature fist pump after holing clutch shots, has even placed him on many people's short list of greatest American athletes, alongside figures like Babe Ruth and Michael Jordan.
Woods has captured many of professional golf's most revered records. He is in close pursuit of many of the rest, including Jack Nicklaus's 18 major tournament victories, the most prestigious record of them all. He routinely leads the sport's world rankings, a result of winning more than a quarter of the P.G.A. Tour tournaments that he's entered, a figure unrivaled in modern times.
Early on Nov. 27, 2009, Woods was left unconscious after he crashed his 2009 Cadillac Escalade into a fire hydrant and a neighbor's tree as he was pulling out of his driveway in the gated community of Isleworth, an Orlando suburb where many high-profile athletes live. Woods and his lawyers declined to speak to the Florida Highway Patrol about the crash.
The incident was accompanied by reports and speculation about marital difficulties between Woods and his wife, Elin. The Windermere, Fla., police chief, Daniel Saylor, said that Woods's wife had used a golf club to break the rear window of the sport utility vehicle to help extricate him. The neighbors who rushed to his aid and called 911 offered their version of events through a lawyer, saying they believed Woods's injuries were caused by the crash alone. The Florida Highway Patrol said that aside from a $164 citation for careless driving, Woods would not face further charges.
Allegations of infidelity dominated news reports. In a widely quoted article in US Weekly magazine, Jaimee Grubbs, a Los Angeles cocktail waitress, detailed a major story on him in 2007. .
In the February 2009 news conference, his first public appearance since the accident, Woods was measured and contrite. More than once he called his actions "foolish and selfish." He emphasized that any queries about his marriage, the circumstances of the car accident and the specific issues for which he requires rehabilitation would remain between him and his wife. He said he had never taken performance-enhancing drugs, and defended his wife by saying that she had never once had a physical altercation with him, nor had there been any domestic abuse in the family.
Born to parents both of mixed race and ethnicity, including African, Chinese and Thai, Woods sank his first putt as a toddler on "The Mike Douglas" television show. His legend has grown steadily since. He won three straight U.S. Junior Amateur titles and then three straight U.S. Amateur titles, both records. With the simple statement, "I guess, hello, world," Woods turned professional in 1996. A year later, at 21, he became the youngest winner of the Masters, and broke the tournament record for lowest overall score (-18) and margin of victory (12). In 2000, at 24, he became the youngest golfer to have won all four major tournaments.
Woods's rise to stardom was made more noteworthy and barrier-breaking because he is the first non-white to lead a traditionally white sport. At Augusta National Golf Club, for example, which hosts the Masters tournament, the first African-American member wasn't admitted until 1990.
Some tournaments have tried altering course layouts to reduce Woods's advantage, but to little obvious effect. While Woods is among the longest hitters in the game, his putting and creative shotmaking, along with his much-ballyhooed focus and competitiveness, separates him from the competition.
Because of his skill and charisma, golf audiences have grown dramatically and the purses at professional tournaments have increased significantly since he joined the P.G.A. Tour. Golf's television ratings are largely dictated by whether Woods enters that week's tournament or is in contention. Huge endorsement contracts for Woods have followed as well. Combined with his tournament earnings, they could make him the first athlete to earn more than $1 billion in his career.
In 2008, after finishing second in the Masters in April, Woods won the U.S. Open in June with a stirring victory over Rocco Mediate after an extra 19 holes, despite a painfully injured left knee and a fracture in his left leg. The win at the Torrey Pines golf course in San Diego was his 65th over all and his 14th major championship; Woods called it “probably the greatest tournament I’ve ever had.”
Nine days later, he had reconstructive surgery for a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. He revealed that he had played the event not only on a bad knee, but with a fractured left tibia. He sat out the rest of the 2008 season and the first weeks of the 2009 tour — a nearly nine-month absence — returning in February 2009 for the Accenture Match Play Championships in Arizona.
Woods’s significance to the PGA Tour cannot be overstated. His galleries are larger than players drew at many tournaments in his absence, and television ratings for golf tournaments fell while he was away.
TIGER WOODS...Tiger Woods enjoyed a life of immediate gratification. He slept around with multiple woman and lived a luxurious lifestyle. When the scandal was revealed to the public it became evident that his life had no depth, or real substance. His relationship with his family was based on lies and caused no true happiness. Tiger "show[ed] himself in a false light", and his life "became a shadow".
Chapter13:
The people in Boston are having a change of heart. The darknees of her past has now turned into a bright future. Instead of seeeing Hester as an Adulterer, they now see the good that she brings instead of her sinful past. They see her sewing stregths and the good she brings to the community. She has become a mother figure toward the town, but in her doing so she has lost herself in her letter.
Chapter 18: How has the minister changed? Why called Arthur Dimmesdale?
For seven years the minister's soul slowly deteriorates under the influence of Chillingworth. From the beginning of the novel the minister is portrayed as a weak character who can not stand up to the pressures of society and admit his sin. The author refers to Dimmesdale in an impersonal manner that keeps readers from becoming attached to the "sick, sustained, and sorrow-blackened" character (Hawthorne 157). However as the plot unravels, Hester and Dimmesdale become intimately connected during their conversation in the woods, and the ministers outlook on life suddenly becomes positive. Hawthorne used this change in the ministers character to create a more personal relationship between the reader and the minister by referring to him by his first name, Arthur. The reader sees that Arthur has "risen up all made anew and becomes attached to the man as he experiences a revelation (Hawthorne 157).
Final Assignments:
Why does Hester raise a daughter, not a son?
Hawthorne may have chosen for Hester to raise a daughter in order to show a dramatic contrast in personality between the two related characters of the same gender. A son born to Hester would have appeared more distant from being an exact replica of her and would have had opportunities in life for education and the possibility to rise in society regardless of the position of his mother. A daughter on the other hand is tied to her mothers fate in the Puritan community, causing Pearl's success in the end of the novel to be extraordinary. By giving Hester a daughter, Hawthorne first highlights differences in personalities of the mother and daughter, and then gives Hester a reward for her hard work and shameful life in isolation by allowing Pearl make a new successful life.
Which character committed greatest sin? What was it? Justify…
Roger Chillingworth is truly the most sinful character in the novel. While other prominent sinners include Hester, who commits adultery, and Dimmesdale, who also commits adultery and is too coward to admit his sin for seven years, Chillingworth’s evil spirit and wicked desires and actions causing anxiety and pain are truly the most sinful. Obsessed with finding the man who fathered Hester‘s illegitimate child, Chillingworth sets out on a path of evil and sin. “The mysterious old Roger Chillingworth [becomes] the medical adviser of the Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale (Hawthorne 73)”, who is secretly Pearl’s father. Chillingworth spends several years attending to Dimmesdale, and discretely prolongs the pain and suffering of the Reverends heart. Chillingworth knowingly inflicts heart wrenching pain on Dimmesdale, and the weak Reverend becomes sallow and unhealthy due to his mental depression caused by the doctor. Comparatively, Chillingworth’s sin is the greatest, as he chooses to continue sinning every day for approximately seven years.
And a little something EXTRA!! (credit)
Hawthorne was able to impress his flowery stlye of writing through the following quote:
"The latter was by far the most showy and gallant fiqure, so far as apparel went, anywhere to be seen among the multitude. He wore a profusion of ribbions on his garment, and gold lace on his hat, which was also encircled by a gold chain and surmounted with a feather. There was a sword at his side, and a sword cut on his forehead, which, by the arrangement of his hair, he seemed anxious rather to display that hide. A landsman could hardly have worn the garb and shown this face, and word and shown them both with such a galliard air, without undergoing stern question before a magistrate, and probably incurring a fine or imprisonment, or perhaps an exhibition in the stocks. As reqarded the ship-master, however, all was looked upon as pertaining to the character, as to a fish his glistening scales (Hawthorne 188)."
By using words such as "profusion", "galliard", "multitude", and "gallant", as well as Hawthorne's proper and intellectual sentence construction, the author conveys an educated and conservative style of writing. However the tone used and mood created by Hawthorne after describing the mariner's captain create a feeling of appreciation and admiration for the sea men's freedom and uniqueness. Transcendentalist and romantic ideals are displayed in the quote above as resistance to human society and freedom of life-stlye are emphasized in the authors writing.
The Soul Sisters presenting
The "Asheville" Interpretation of The Scarlet Letter by Nathanial Hawthorne
Brought to you by Mason Burril, Looie Doucette, and Lily Clarke
Introduction: Nathaniel Hawthorne wants to show that adultery in the Puritan community is regarded with such distain that Hester's story lasts for decades, and the letter becomes a symbol and relic of the consequences she faces. Another possible motive of Hawthorne’s is to provide an example of the idea that sins like adultery are not unique to certain time periods or communities, but are universal shortcomings in human beings regardless of time.
Quotes:
“This long connection of a family with one spot, as its place of birth and burial, creates a kindred between the human being and the locality, quite independent of any charm in the scenery or moral circumstances that surround him (Hawthorne 277).”
(personal experience)
As the author finds himself connected to Salem, the home to several generations of his family, readers similarly relate to the feeling of being tied to things and places due to heritage. While there are not always significant reasons other than family connections, the relationships between humans and the places and things tied to their ancestors are extremely intimate. Hawthorne acurately describes the "sentiment...assignable to the deep and aged roots which [his] family has stuck into the soil (Hawthorne 274)." The feelings created from the knowlege that a person's ancestors have walked, worked, talked, loved, cried, and lived in a particular area both personal and intimate.
“…every individual who has occupied the position-is, that, while he leans on the mighty arm of the Republic, his own proper strength departs from him. He loses, in an extent proportioned to the weakness of force of his original nature, the capability of self-support (Hawthorne 303).” surveyor of the customs
(relates to chapers 1-10)
The description of a man losing his strenth and "capability of self-support (Hawthorne 303)" described in the introduction perfectly relates to the relationship between Chillingworth and Dimmesdale. While Dimmesdale finds himself "lean[ing] on the mighty arm (Hawthorne 303)" of Chillingworth, the former procedes to loose his sense of self-reliance and ability to function alone. The same can be said for Dimmesdale reliance on a secret that slowly knaws away at his soul and strength. " Mr. Dimmesdale, conscious that the poison of one morbid spot was infecting his heart's entire substance (Hawthorne 92)", was subject to the torture and self-deprecation caused by continuing to hide a monumental secret.
“ My good townspeople will not much regret me; for-though it has been as dear an object as any, in and to win myself a pleasant memory in this abode and burial place of so many of my forefathers-there has never been, for me, the genial atmosphere which a literary man requires in order to ripen the best harvest of his mind. I shall do better amongst other faces; and these familiar ones, it need hardly be said, will do just as well without me (Hawthorne 309).”
(hint at end)
The author is convinced that while he has lived, worked, and interacted in the town of Salem throughout his whole life, he is not an essential asset to the community, and will not be considered a great loss if he leaves. Almost as if he is invisible the author feels as if his role in the community is minute. Just as the author can easily be forgotten in his town, Hester Pryne, after causing a huge commotion and scandal, ends up living an invisible life where she does not play a large role in the community. Like the author, Hester has become "long familiar to the townspeople (Hawthorne 181)" but is not important to them. "As [is] usually the case wherever Hester [stands], a small vacant area - a sort of magic circle - [forms] istelf about her (Hawthorne 189)," showing the unimportance of her presence in society. After seven years of ignominy and humiliation, Hester, like that author, ends up as an non-influential member of society living among people who "will do just as well without (Hawthorne 309)" her.
Chapter 1:
How title relates to scarlet letter's symbolism; The title of chapter 1, The Prison Door, embodies many of the physiological aspects of the scarlet letter's symbolism. As a mark of ignominy, the scarlet letter symbolizes a separation between Hester Pryne and the Puritan community. The prison door is a tangible barrier between a prisoner and free people, just as the scarlet letter becomes a barrier in Hester's life.
Chapter 2:
REDNECK WOMAN
By: Gretchen Wilson
Well, I ain't never been the Barbie doll type
No, I can't swig that sweet Champagne, I'd rather drink beer all night
In a tavern or in a honky tonk or on a four-wheel drive tailgate
I've got posters on my wall of Skynyrd, Kid and Strait
Some people look down on me, but I don't give a rip
I'll stand barefooted in my own front yard with a baby on my hip
'cause I'm a redneck woman
I ain't no high class broad
I'm just a product of my raising
I say, 'hey ya'll' and 'yee-haw'
And I keep my Christmas lights on
On my front porch all year long
And I know all the words to every Charlie Daniels song
So here's to all my sisters out there keeping it country
Let me get a big 'hell yeah' from the redneck girls like me, hell yeah
Victoria's Secret, well their stuff's real nice
But I can buy the same damn thing on a Wal-Mart shelf half price
And still look sexy, just as sexy as those models on TV
I don't need no designer tag to make my man want me
Well, you might think I'm trashy, a little too hardcore
But in my neck of the woods I'm just the girl next door
I'm a redneck woman
I ain't no high class broad
I'm just a product of my raising
I say, 'hey y'all' and 'yee-haw'
And I keep my Christmas lights on
On my front porch all year long
And I know all the words to every Tanya Tucker song
So here's to all my sisters out there keeping it country
Let me get a big 'hell yeah' from the redneck girls like me, hell yeah
I'm a redneck woman
I ain't no high class broad
I'm just a product of my raising
I say, 'hey y'all' and 'yee-haw'
And I keep my Christmas lights on
On my front porch all year long
And I know all the words to every ol' Bocephus song
So here's to all my sisters out there keeping it country
Let me get a big 'hell yeah' from the redneck girls like me, hell yeah
Hell yeah, hell yeah
Hell yeah
I said hell yeah!
Hester directly relates to the lyric of this song. Clearly Hester is the outcast and she is looked down upon; much like Gretchen Wilson in this song. But also as Hester puts up with the harrasment and bad looks, Gretchen does as well. They are both strong women that stand up for what they believe. When the song says "you might think I'm trashy", the villagers thing that Hester is trashy. The line:"Some people look down on me, but I don't give a rip, I'll stand barefooted in my own front yard with a baby on my hip", this is the same thing that is happening to Hester; she is looked down upon, but she doesn't care, and she is proud to have a baby on her hip! This song is all about having pride in yourself, and Hester is very strong willed, and even though she is made fun of for it, she is proud of who she is.
Chapter 3:
In The Recognition, Hester recognizes her husband, Chillingworth; Chillingworth recognizes Hester, and the townspeople want Hester to recognize the father of Hester’s illegitimate child.
Hester sees “a figure which irresistibly [takes] possession of her thoughts (Hawthorne 13)” while she
[is] standing on the podium in the middle of town. Similarly, the man, Chillingworth, “[has bent] his eyes on Hester Prynne (Hawthorne 14)”, as he tries to catch her eye. As soon as Chillingworth gets Hester’s attention and sees “that she [appears] to recognize him, he slowly and calmly [raises] his finger, [and makes] a gesture with it in the air, and [lays] it on his lips (Hawthorne 14)”. Both Hester and Chillingworth are able to recognize each other by appearance when Hester is made a spectacle of by the
town and Chillingworth subtly watches from afar.
Another type of verbal recognition is demanded when Mr. Wilson and Mr. Dimmesdale try to convince Hester to recognize her child’s father. Mr. Wilson uses a persuasive religious argument to entices Hester to reveal the “godly youth that he should deal with [Hester], here in the face of Heaven, and before these wise and upright rulers, and in hearing all of the people, as touching the vileness and blackness of [Hester’s] sin (Hawthorne 18)”. While the townspeople desperately wish for Hester to recognize her child’s father, and in desperation demand to “exhort her to confess the truth (Hawthorne 19), Hester does not yield in her secret.
Chapter 6:
Shrek and Pearl are similar because they are both outcasts in society and are seen as daemons by some; while others see them as beautiful. They both have strong personalities, they can go from being very happy to angry and throwing a temper tantrum. Pearl and Shrek both represent a
Chapter 7:
Hester has become an outsider to her village because of her sin. As a result, she is has become lonesome and in many way depressed. She realizes however, that she "must gather [her] own sunshine." In other words, she is the only one that can bring herself happiness because she is secluded from society. Hester also realizes that the only person that can bring someone happiness is themselves. Hester tells this to Pearl because she wants to teach her that no one can bring you happiness, you have to bring it upon yourself. Many people believe that clinical depression is not something that can be simply be cured by someone telling you to be happy. Like Hester, it is believed that each person must find it in on their own in order to escape depression.
Chapter: 8:
Hester is definently not an unfit mother. Even though she and Pearl are outcasts of society, Hester is able to bring Pearl more love and care than Pearl would find in their society's traditioal home. Hester is passionate and strong, and she teaches Pearl to be the same way. Hester is also able to overcome the fact that Pearl is being raised wihtout a father. She does this by caring for her and nurturing her. She is equal to a man in her intelligence and thoughtfulness and therefore is able to protect Pearl and know what is best for her. By the end of the novel, Hester becomes a mother figure to the other women of the community.
Chapters 9-10:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhgzIM-9lfA
IRON MAN...Just as Chillingworth appeared to be helping Dimmesdale, Obadiah, Tony Starks manager, pretended to be helping Tony. However Obadiah had a secret intention to kill Tony Stark and take over the company. Similarly, Chillingworth had detrimental intentions towards Dimmesdale's health. On the other hand, Tony was building a secret Iron Man that was clouded from Obadiah; comparative to Dimmesdale's mysterious sin.
Chapter 11: Tiger Woods
Donald Miralle/Getty Images
Updated: April 12, 2010
Tiger Woods is the world's best golfer. But after a decade at the pinnacle of the sports world, a Nov. 27, 2009, car accident set off a wave of revelations about his personal life and reports of marital infidelities linking him to multiple women. It caused him to take a leave from the PGA tour.
After a stint in rehab, three months later Woods admitted to repeated infidelities in a carefully orchestrated news conference, apologizing to his friends, family and colleagues, and acknowledging that he is in therapy.
He returned to golf for the 2010 Masters tournament in April, ending the four-month hiatus that had shattered his image as the gold standard in sports. At an event that was part soap opera, part athletic event and part stage show, Woods did not play spectacularly, but he was welcomed by the crowd and finished tied for fourth, only five strokes behind the winner, Phil Mickelson.
Woods has transformed golf with a combination of power, touch and tenacious resolve. His astonishing success, often accompanied by his signature fist pump after holing clutch shots, has even placed him on many people's short list of greatest American athletes, alongside figures like Babe Ruth and Michael Jordan.
Woods has captured many of professional golf's most revered records. He is in close pursuit of many of the rest, including Jack Nicklaus's 18 major tournament victories, the most prestigious record of them all. He routinely leads the sport's world rankings, a result of winning more than a quarter of the P.G.A. Tour tournaments that he's entered, a figure unrivaled in modern times.
Early on Nov. 27, 2009, Woods was left unconscious after he crashed his 2009 Cadillac Escalade into a fire hydrant and a neighbor's tree as he was pulling out of his driveway in the gated community of Isleworth, an Orlando suburb where many high-profile athletes live. Woods and his lawyers declined to speak to the Florida Highway Patrol about the crash.
The incident was accompanied by reports and speculation about marital difficulties between Woods and his wife, Elin. The Windermere, Fla., police chief, Daniel Saylor, said that Woods's wife had used a golf club to break the rear window of the sport utility vehicle to help extricate him. The neighbors who rushed to his aid and called 911 offered their version of events through a lawyer, saying they believed Woods's injuries were caused by the crash alone. The Florida Highway Patrol said that aside from a $164 citation for careless driving, Woods would not face further charges.
Allegations of infidelity dominated news reports. In a widely quoted article in US Weekly magazine, Jaimee Grubbs, a Los Angeles cocktail waitress, detailed a major story on him in 2007. .
In the February 2009 news conference, his first public appearance since the accident, Woods was measured and contrite. More than once he called his actions "foolish and selfish." He emphasized that any queries about his marriage, the circumstances of the car accident and the specific issues for which he requires rehabilitation would remain between him and his wife. He said he had never taken performance-enhancing drugs, and defended his wife by saying that she had never once had a physical altercation with him, nor had there been any domestic abuse in the family.
Born to parents both of mixed race and ethnicity, including African, Chinese and Thai, Woods sank his first putt as a toddler on "The Mike Douglas" television show. His legend has grown steadily since. He won three straight U.S. Junior Amateur titles and then three straight U.S. Amateur titles, both records. With the simple statement, "I guess, hello, world," Woods turned professional in 1996. A year later, at 21, he became the youngest winner of the Masters, and broke the tournament record for lowest overall score (-18) and margin of victory (12). In 2000, at 24, he became the youngest golfer to have won all four major tournaments.
Woods's rise to stardom was made more noteworthy and barrier-breaking because he is the first non-white to lead a traditionally white sport. At Augusta National Golf Club, for example, which hosts the Masters tournament, the first African-American member wasn't admitted until 1990.
Some tournaments have tried altering course layouts to reduce Woods's advantage, but to little obvious effect. While Woods is among the longest hitters in the game, his putting and creative shotmaking, along with his much-ballyhooed focus and competitiveness, separates him from the competition.
Because of his skill and charisma, golf audiences have grown dramatically and the purses at professional tournaments have increased significantly since he joined the P.G.A. Tour. Golf's television ratings are largely dictated by whether Woods enters that week's tournament or is in contention. Huge endorsement contracts for Woods have followed as well. Combined with his tournament earnings, they could make him the first athlete to earn more than $1 billion in his career.
In 2008, after finishing second in the Masters in April, Woods won the U.S. Open in June with a stirring victory over Rocco Mediate after an extra 19 holes, despite a painfully injured left knee and a fracture in his left leg. The win at the Torrey Pines golf course in San Diego was his 65th over all and his 14th major championship; Woods called it “probably the greatest tournament I’ve ever had.”
Nine days later, he had reconstructive surgery for a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. He revealed that he had played the event not only on a bad knee, but with a fractured left tibia. He sat out the rest of the 2008 season and the first weeks of the 2009 tour — a nearly nine-month absence — returning in February 2009 for the Accenture Match Play Championships in Arizona.
Woods’s significance to the PGA Tour cannot be overstated. His galleries are larger than players drew at many tournaments in his absence, and television ratings for golf tournaments fell while he was away.
TIGER WOODS...Tiger Woods enjoyed a life of immediate gratification. He slept around with multiple woman and lived a luxurious lifestyle. When the scandal was revealed to the public it became evident that his life had no depth, or real substance. His relationship with his family was based on lies and caused no true happiness. Tiger "show[ed] himself in a false light", and his life "became a shadow".
Chapter13:
The people in Boston are having a change of heart. The darknees of her past has now turned into a bright future. Instead of seeeing Hester as an Adulterer, they now see the good that she brings instead of her sinful past. They see her sewing stregths and the good she brings to the community. She has become a mother figure toward the town, but in her doing so she has lost herself in her letter.
Chapter 18: How has the minister changed? Why called Arthur Dimmesdale?
For seven years the minister's soul slowly deteriorates under the influence of Chillingworth. From the beginning of the novel the minister is portrayed as a weak character who can not stand up to the pressures of society and admit his sin. The author refers to Dimmesdale in an impersonal manner that keeps readers from becoming attached to the "sick, sustained, and sorrow-blackened" character (Hawthorne 157). However as the plot unravels, Hester and Dimmesdale become intimately connected during their conversation in the woods, and the ministers outlook on life suddenly becomes positive. Hawthorne used this change in the ministers character to create a more personal relationship between the reader and the minister by referring to him by his first name, Arthur. The reader sees that Arthur has "risen up all made anew and becomes attached to the man as he experiences a revelation (Hawthorne 157).
Final Assignments:
Why does Hester raise a daughter, not a son?
Hawthorne may have chosen for Hester to raise a daughter in order to show a dramatic contrast in personality between the two related characters of the same gender. A son born to Hester would have appeared more distant from being an exact replica of her and would have had opportunities in life for education and the possibility to rise in society regardless of the position of his mother. A daughter on the other hand is tied to her mothers fate in the Puritan community, causing Pearl's success in the end of the novel to be extraordinary. By giving Hester a daughter, Hawthorne first highlights differences in personalities of the mother and daughter, and then gives Hester a reward for her hard work and shameful life in isolation by allowing Pearl make a new successful life.
Which character committed greatest sin? What was it? Justify…
Roger Chillingworth is truly the most sinful character in the novel. While other prominent sinners include Hester, who commits adultery, and Dimmesdale, who also commits adultery and is too coward to admit his sin for seven years, Chillingworth’s evil spirit and wicked desires and actions causing anxiety and pain are truly the most sinful. Obsessed with finding the man who fathered Hester‘s illegitimate child, Chillingworth sets out on a path of evil and sin. “The mysterious old Roger Chillingworth [becomes] the medical adviser of the Reverend Mr. Dimmesdale (Hawthorne 73)”, who is secretly Pearl’s father. Chillingworth spends several years attending to Dimmesdale, and discretely prolongs the pain and suffering of the Reverends heart. Chillingworth knowingly inflicts heart wrenching pain on Dimmesdale, and the weak Reverend becomes sallow and unhealthy due to his mental depression caused by the doctor. Comparatively, Chillingworth’s sin is the greatest, as he chooses to continue sinning every day for approximately seven years.
And a little something EXTRA!! (credit)
Hawthorne was able to impress his flowery stlye of writing through the following quote:
"The latter was by far the most showy and gallant fiqure, so far as apparel went, anywhere to be seen among the multitude. He wore a profusion of ribbions on his garment, and gold lace on his hat, which was also encircled by a gold chain and surmounted with a feather. There was a sword at his side, and a sword cut on his forehead, which, by the arrangement of his hair, he seemed anxious rather to display that hide. A landsman could hardly have worn the garb and shown this face, and word and shown them both with such a galliard air, without undergoing stern question before a magistrate, and probably incurring a fine or imprisonment, or perhaps an exhibition in the stocks. As reqarded the ship-master, however, all was looked upon as pertaining to the character, as to a fish his glistening scales (Hawthorne 188)."
By using words such as "profusion", "galliard", "multitude", and "gallant", as well as Hawthorne's proper and intellectual sentence construction, the author conveys an educated and conservative style of writing. However the tone used and mood created by Hawthorne after describing the mariner's captain create a feeling of appreciation and admiration for the sea men's freedom and uniqueness. Transcendentalist and romantic ideals are displayed in the quote above as resistance to human society and freedom of life-stlye are emphasized in the authors writing.